The following sections explain some of the concepts and ideas in
Buddhism
that are taken by most Buddhists as metaphorical or even plain
mythological.
Nevertheless, these things show up even in the most sophisticated
texts,
and so the student of Buddhism should be familiar with them -- even if
they seem at times to take away rather than contribute to the deeper
meaning
of the Dharma. Westerners are often less comfortable with these
things
than are easterners, who have grown up with these terms. But a
little
thought and the reader will recognize that we have very similar
concepts
in the west, which we use in a similar fashion: Heavens and
hells,
ghosts and angels, the trinity, the saints.... Whether we take
them
literally or not, they are a part of how we tell our stories.

The Buddhists, following the traditions of their Indian
fore-fathers,
saw the universe as infinite in time and space, and filled with an
infinite
number of worlds like our own.

Above our ordinary world, there are two realms: the realm of
form
(rupa-dhatu) and the even higher realm of formlessness (arupa-dhatu).
Below these is the realm of desire (kama-dhatu) which contains
six
domains (gatis), each with its own kinds of beings:

All of the above, even the realms of form and formlessness, are in samsara
, imperfect existence, and therefore governed by karma and its
fruits
(vipaka).

The world extends around Mount Meru. Above the peak is
the realm of the Buddha fields (or heavens). On the upper slopes
you find the gods. The titans live on the lower slopes.
Animals
and humans live on the plains around the mountain. Hungry ghosts
live on or just below the surface. And hell is deep under the
earth.
All this is surrounded by a great ocean.

Time in Buddhist cosmology is measured in kalpas.
Originally,
a kalpa was considered to be 4,320,000 years. Buddhist scholars
expanded
it with a metaphor: rub a one-mile cube of rock once every
hundred
years with a piece of silk, until the rock is worn away -- and a kalpa
still hasn’t passed! During a kalpa, the world comes into being,
exists, is destroyed, and a period of emptiness ensues. Then it
all
starts again.

Some of the actors in the Buddhist mythological drama include...

Brahma -- the supreme deva, who
convinced Buddha to teach.
Indra -- a major deva, originally the Hindu sky god.
Prajña -- goddess of knowledge. Buddha’s mother
was considered an incarnation.
Mara -- a deva associated with death and hindrances to
enlightenment.
It was Mara who tempted Buddha under the bodhi tree.
Yama -- the king of the 21 hells (see image above).
Nagas -- great serpents (or dragons, or water creatures). The
king of the Nagas protected Buddha from a storm.
Gandharvas -- angelic beings who provide the gods with music

Trikaya

In Mahayana and especially Vajrayana, the idea of the Buddha and his
Dharma evolved into a more elaborate system called the Trikaya,
or three bodies of Buddha:

2. Sambhogakaya -- Buddhas
in their heavens, the
result
of accumulated merit. Or, in Zen, enlightenment. In Tibetan
buddhism, this refers to the means of achieving the Dharmakaya, i.e.
the
power of meditation on the various visualized dieties called yidams
which
are archetypal symbols of different qualities of enlightenment.

3. Dharmakaya -- The
teachings of the Buddha, and the
true
nature of the Buddha, which is everything. Buddha mind, or
Shunyata.

In Tibet, they also refer to the body, speech, and mind of a
master.
And they are represented by the mudra, the mantra, and the mandala,
respectively.

Corresponding to these five transcendent Buddhas, there are five
Bodhisattvas
and five earthly Buddhas:

1. Samantabhadra

Krakucchanda

2. Vajrapani

Kanakamuni

3. Ratnapani

Kashyapa

4. Avalokiteshvara (Kuan Yin)2

Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gotama)

5. Vishvapani

Maitreya (the future Buddha)3

1 Amitabha is the transcendent Buddha of the
Western “Pure Land.” Amitabha rules over this period of time.

2 Avalokiteshwara (Chenrezi, Kwan
Yin, Kwannon) is the boddhisattva of compassion.
Avalokiteshwara
is often represented by a female figure, or an ambiguous one, in
the
Mahayana tradition. (See image at right)

The Taras are a set of 21 female saviors, born from
Avalokiteshwara’s
tears. Green Tara and White Tara are the best known.

3 Maitreya is the future Buddha, who will be
born 30,000 years from now. The Chinese monk called Pu-tai
(Ho-tei in Japanese) -- “the laughing buddha” -- is considered a
pre-incarnation of Maitreya.